Please Don't Make Me Say It
by coffeevixen84
Summary: Teensy lil' one-shot, set during a now admittedly AU version of some future battle with the Wicked Witch. Written entirely to deal with my surplus of Captain Swan feelings.


Please Don't Make Me Say It

Disclaimer: I own remarkably little in this world, and certainly not these characters.

Author's Note: I don't even know what this is. First time writing OUaT, and this was started and quickly abandoned on numerous occasions. Only heaven knows why I'm posting it now. Hope you enjoy.

!

It wasn't as if she didn't think about it. Honestly, almost as much waking contemplation was consumed by him, and the idea of _them_, as by any of the other hot topics always demanding her attention, even if it shamed her to acknowledge such a thing. He was forever lurking in the corners of her mind, looming behind her concern for her son's happiness, and her responsibilities to her parents, and to this entire town.

(And her sleeping contemplation certainly had a definite fixation. So many nights spent dreaming of jungles and ships and worn black leather. It'd actually be completely mortifying if anyone else ever knew.)

But thinking about it (and, at least initially, quite reluctantly at that), and being able to clearly articulate those thoughts…or being emotionally prepared for the consequences of those thoughts if ever spoken…. were entirely different things. And though she might think about it, her thoughts were truthfully all over the place, and Emma Swan definitely wasn't ready to say a single word, about him or to him, out loud.

However, given Zelena's current choice in bait, she was struck with a suspicion, and its accompanying sense of dread, that someone was about to force her hand. Piled on top of her already existing stresses and fears, it was all becoming quite the load, and she took the briefest of pauses to hate The Witch anew for now dragging her most private emotions into this mess.

She narrowed her eyes as she folded her arms across her chest, bracing herself, while studying her opponent. Zelena stood across the clearing, unaffected and with a misleading posture of ease and grace, and sent a poisonous smile in Emma's direction.

"My dear Savior, we've been waiting so long for you to join us. I must say you are looking well, considering the circumstances." The Witch's eyes looked pointedly to the singed fields around them, gloomy plumes of smoke still rising in places, before falling on Hook, battered and worn, held captive, by both monkey and curse, at her feet. "But, I suppose you've benefited from having so devoted a soldier, always willing to fight your battles and endure such blows. I can relate, having a legion of loyal warriors myself. I've barely had to get my hands dirty yet, and here we are, already nearing the end. I do have a bit of advantage on pure numbers, of course," a near-deafening chorus of affirming screeches came from the surrounding monkeys, until Zelena lifted her hand just slightly to silence them. "I'll admit your pet is much prettier, though."

Without pulling her gaze from Emma's, The Witch flicked her wrist, almost carelessly, and, as if pulled by invisible string, Hook's body lifted awkwardly to a standing position, clearly not of his own volition, and Emma heard his breathing change sharply, indicating his pain had increased suddenly and substantially. She felt something tugging roughly at her throat, twisting inside her chest as she took in the sight of him – barely conscious, a gash muddied with drying blood at his temple, a bruise darkening his cheek, his lips, cracked and dry and pulled apart in anguish. But she knew better than to show how much it affected her; until she knew exactly which game The Witch was playing, she was determined to keep her vulnerabilities hidden wherever she could. Keeping her expression as neutral as possible, her voice steady and distant, she merely raised an eyebrow at the villain's wicked display.

"Can we just cut the dramatics and get to the point? I'm here, like you asked. Now what do you want?"

"I want to help you, Emma. I invited you here out of generosity, to give you what _you_ want."

Emma quirked an incredulous eyebrow even as her voice remained flat. "You think you know what I want?"

"Absolutely." The Witch's voice was patronizing and too sweet. "You want normalcy, for yourself and for your son. And I asked you here to offer exactly that."

"By showing me a wounded pirate? I know you aren't from this realm, Zelena, but you have to know you are missing the mark."

The left corner of The Witch's mouth twitched just slightly, whether from amusement or annoyance Emma could not tell.

"By showing you what it is that truly stands between you and a normal life, Emma. And then giving you the glorious opportunity to permanently remove the threat."

Something changed in Zelena's eyes, and Emma felt alarm run cold and sharp down her spine. Still, she asked for clarification though she doubted she wanted the answer. "What do you mean?"

"Him." With another gesture of her hand, Hook's body crumpled to the ground again, this time accompanied by a sharp cry of agony. "This man will never leave you. He will never give up. And how could your life ever be normal with him by your side? He's not equipped with a curse's worth of memories to help him navigate this world, and he's too weak with love to leave it without you. It wasn't me, or your family, or magic that ripped you from your happy little life, Emma. It was him. And he'd do it over and over again, without hesitation. You want desperately to just take Henry and run back to a life of quiet nights and no danger. But that will never really be possible, because he will _always_ find you… because _you_ have his heart." The Witch smiled again, and Emma felt it like a punch to the gut. "The only way to stop him, Savior, is to let me take it."

Despite her best efforts to keep every reaction veiled, every thought a secret, Emma could feel her eyes widen with fear and panic as Zelena's words hit her. Gaze darting to Hook's body, folded in unnatural ways as he gasped for relief he could not find, she felt the burn of unbidden tears. She watched him struggle to open his eyes, only to wince and cry out softly as The Witch overpowered his every effort with mere motions of her hand. Emma heard Zelena's words echoing in her mind, thinking of Graham, of even Milah and Daniel, and struggling through her mounting terror to puzzle out what The Witch was getting at.

Trying to sound composed, and failing, she brought her gaze back to the villain."If you just wanted his heart, you'd have taken it all ready. What are you really after, Zelena?"

"See, that's where you wrong." Slowly The Witch began making her way towards Emma, across the clearing. With every step she took Hook seized with fresh pain, and it was clear the vile sorceress delighted in it. "Not all the magic we make is intentional, Emma. You yourself, dear product-of-true-love, are proof enough of that. Somewhere between that beanstalk and now, the infamous Captain Hook offered you his heart…and just as thanklessly as you once accepted his ship, you took it. You let him love you, even as you clearly had no intention of loving him back. But love is not a magic to be trifled with, Emma. Through the startling trueness of his affections, meeting all that power you possess, without the faintest idea as to how to wield, it appears that you, my pretty, now control the heart that beats in his chest just as certainly as if you'd reached in and grabbed it. The sad truth is, if I were to take his heart right now, without your consent, he'd die. And I don't want him to die," she lifted her hand before her, squeezing and clenching her fingers into a fist, and Hook's resulting scream seemed to echo all around them. "I just want his allegiances to shift a little."

Emma flinched at Hook's cry, struggling desperately to keep up and to grasp what The Witch was claiming, wondering how and if it could be true. Her body twitched with the effort of restraining herself, holding herself back from moving to his side and throwing herself between him and his captor, even as she knew how fruitless it would be in the face of such strong magic. Her eyes failed to blink away her confusion and surprise and increasing fear, but her voice managed to remain almost steady as she pressed a little harder. "Why? Why him?"

"Because he's useful, or could be with the right coercion. He's clever and resilient and admittedly very easy on the eyes. But more importantly he's been privy to the campaigns of my sister and my mother, but in both cases found their causes, and their company, wanting. He can be the first of the many ways I will surpass them both, as I tame the once-dastardly Captain Hook, just before I steal every ounce of Regina's power, and extinguish any of the command lingering in Cora's memory. He can stay here, do as I ask, help me teach my baby sister a bit of humility, while you return to your new home, free to live a life with your son unencumbered by lovesick pirates or the threat of Henry's other mother ever trying to reclaim what was once hers. I'll even promise not to harm your poor parents… lest they interfere directly, of course. Just let me take his heart, Emma, and we can both win."

Emma wanted to believe the immediate, staggering rage and disgust were due to her own integrity or some nobility, due to her concern for the citizens of Storybrooke beyond her parents, for Regina - who, for all her crimes, was the only one on this earth who could possibly love Henry as selflessly and unconditionally as Emma herself did, resulting in a bond and a begrudgingly found respect that could not be denied - but it would have been a lie. This was the moment she had feared as soon as she'd been summoned to meet The Witch with a note rolled into one of Hook's rings. The moment when crisis would reveal things she didn't understand, and was so afraid to fully accept, even more terrified to admit. As The Witch's proposition hit her ears, her instant and admittedly visceral impulse to hit back with every ounce of strength and fury and magic she possessed was inspired totally by the horrifying notion of losing the man before her, losing his support and his friendship and his heart, fears made disturbingly more vivid by the hand Zelena now thrust into his chest and Hook's renewed screaming that accompanied it. The villain raised her eyebrows, as if she foolishly expected Emma to give approval.

What Emma gave instead was something not a soul in that clearing, save the pirate himself, would have truly believed possible, as suddenly, amazingly, Emma's feelings overpowered her thoughts and worries and hesitations, her every attempt at restraint. A brightness emanated first from the tips of her fingers before extending outward and upward and everywhere, as pressure built and then pulsed from her being in a mighty wave, rolling forth and crashing into The Witch and her army, knocking them back with a resounding boom and a blinding light. On instinct alone, even as her expression was frozen in shock, Emma ran to Hook's side, pulling him, as gently as she could with the necessary haste, to his feet. Large, fearful eyes watched The Witch stumble slightly before righting herself into a stance of menace and wrath, while the monkeys, having shaken their own surprise, began their same screeching, beady and ferocious eyes trained on Emma.

Again, Zelena silenced them with a hand, but when she spoke her voice no longer played at the slightest sweetness and negotiation.

"I see I've underestimated you, Emma. Both your abilities and your affections. A pity. Had you accepted my offer, it would undeniably have made things easier for me, but I promise you, now, that I'm going to really relish making things much, much harder for you. Enjoy your pirate while you can, princess. This isn't over."

With a twist of green smoke, a broom appeared in The Witch's hand and with the sound of her legion howling at her back, their wings flapping in unison, Zelena flew up and off, leaving a trembling Emma behind.

Turning her attention to the injured man at her side, Emma rapidly tried to assess his state as he struggled noticeably to remain conscious, obviously too weak to stay upright as he fell gracelessly to his knees

"Hook. Hook!" She shook his shoulder persistently, but still with care, and somehow felt both release and new terror when one bright blue eye opened, staring at her blearily, before slipping shut again as he fell even further to the ground. "Hook, damn it! I need you to wake up! Please, please." She pulled at him again, quickly wondering how she could get him to the medical care he clearly needed in this state, when at last he let out a ragged cough and the most pathetic slurring of her name.

"Swan, yelling at me seems a lousy way to ask a favor." He heaved another shaky breath before continuing, even though his eyes still refused to open. "I'll wake when I'm good and ready. Perhaps it may have escaped your notice, but I've endured a bit of trauma just now."

His voice was strained, breathy and hollow in places. His handsome face, hidden beneath blood and bruise, was still pinched in an unfamiliar expression of pain, and his eyes, so constant a comfort to her in the last few weeks, remained hidden from her view. But his words, so_ him_, struck her with a relief she could not have previously imagined and she found herself hugging him fiercely, without thinking, as a bemused and grateful chuckle left her lips.

"You stupid, stubborn pirate. What were you thinking, going off and getting yourself captured?"

She saw the barest raise of his right brow, and while hoarse, there was a definite note of sarcasm carried in his voice. "I assure you it was far from intentional, love." Slowly, with a flutter of his dark lashes, he opened his eyes to meet her gaze, and she felt her throat tighten slightly at how blue they were, and the awe and gratitude they held. "Thank you, Swan. For saving me."

A slight nod was all she could muster at first, inhaling deeply to keep herself from crying. "You have to be more careful, Hook. She's powerful, and we...I...," she took another deep breath. "I need you."

If she hadn't already believed all that Zelena had said about the possession of his heart, the way her whispered confession both brightened and softened his stare, and eased some of the tension in his weary shoulders, may have convinced her. He swallowed nervously as he studied her, a carefully hopeful look in his eyes.

"For now?"

And with a reply she realized putting thoughts into words may not be as hard as she expected.

"No, forever."


End file.
